


John Kennex Hates Working Undercover (Not Really)

by MeganMoonlight



Category: Almost Human (TV)
Genre: Feelings, Holding Hands, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Slow Dancing, Undercover, Undercover as a Couple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-24 00:07:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20017015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeganMoonlight/pseuds/MeganMoonlight
Summary: Someone is targeting androids who are in relationships with humans. John and Dorian go undercover to a club where majority of attacks took place.





	John Kennex Hates Working Undercover (Not Really)

“…Excuse me? We’re to do what now? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Well, I could ask Paul instead, of course, but for some reason I don’t think that would work. He’s good at his job, but I doubt he can make people believe he’s in a romantic relationship with Dorian.”

“But… me? Really? Come on.”

Detective John Kennex leaned back in his chair as he looked at Captain Sandra Maldonado, already feeling a headache coming. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he exhaled quietly. Seriously, why did it have to be him?

“I already sent all the files to Dorian. You can go through them together and come up with your backstory. All we need is a week. It shouldn’t take longer for us to locate the lab in which the suspect dismantles androids he kidnaps. I could send Dorian in by himself, of course, he’s more than capable of handling things by himself, but the vast majority of kidnapped androids was in romantic relationships. Sending him with a partner to the club where most of the attacks took place could increase our chances of finding the suspect, not to mention that Dorian would be safer with three people watching him. If the killer tries to get close to him, we have to be ready,” Sandra said, looking at the screen of her computer briefly. “You can say no, of course, but I think Dorian would appreciate you being there with him.”

John just shook his head slowly at that. She always knew how to play him.

“Fine, fine. I’ll do it.”

***

“Is everything okay, John?”

John discreetly looked around the room as he put his hands on Dorian’s hips, keeping his lips close to his partner’s neck to make everyone believe he was giving Dorian a hickey. As soon as his lips ended up in close proximity to Dorian’s skin he realized that his plan had one major drawback. Yes, it gave him a great opportunity to observe everyone around them, but it was getting a little bit difficult to focus on his task when Dorian was so impossibly close.

“I’m just fine, why?”

“Your pulse has quickened and your hands are sweating a lot more than they usually are,” Dorian replied right away. 

Crap. Busted. 

If they weren’t in a club full of people, waiting to catch a guy who was targeting android-human couples, John would have told him exactly what he thought about Dorian’s assessment of his physical state. He really would. In the end he just exhaled instead, trying to get his breathing under control.

“It’s pretty hot in here, what did you expect?”

“You do know that you are not a very good liar, right?”

“Hey, who’s lying? It is hot in here! Besides, if I weren’t a good liar I wouldn’t be here with you, would I.”

One of Dorian’s hands was on John’s shoulder, thumb of the other one caressing the back of John’s neck gently, and John briefly wondered if Dorian chose this particular action randomly, or did he somehow found out which buttons to push to make John lose his mind. Damn it. He really had to get a grip.

“Detective Lance noticed two men who seem to be focusing all their attention on the androids who came here tonight,” Dorian muttered right into John’s ear a minute later. “One of them is sitting by the bar, not drinking his drink of choice.”

“You think he’s the one we’re looking for?” John asked, turning his head slightly to search for the man Dorian mentioned.

Indeed, by the bar sat a man in a loose, brown jacket, who seemed to be watching everyone on the dance floor. On the first glance he wasn’t doing anything overtly suspicious, but when his eyes landed on a woman who was dancing with her android partner, a strange expression appeared on his face. No, not just strange. It was plain creepy. This had to be their guy, John was sure of it. “If we’re talking about a guy in an ugly brown jacket, yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s him.”

“If we are correct and he does plan to attack, we should…”

“…catch his attention and try to stop him,” John interrupted him. “Come on.”

“John? Where are you going?”

“I think my boyfriend could buy me a drink or two. How does that sound?” John asked his partner, pointing to the bar, and Dorian tilted his head briefly before smiling at him.

“Ah. Of course.”

Right when they walked up to the bar Dorian gripped John’s hand and squeezed gently, making John inhale quickly. He knew Dorian did it only for the sake of their cover, but it still surprised him. It was definitely not the time to think about how soft Dorian’s hands were, damn it. _Focus, Kennex. You have a dangerous asshole to catch._

Agreeing that it would be best to stay close to their target, John and Dorian decided to stand right next to him by the bar. John sat down on the high chair and took one of Dorian’s hands in his to keep him in front of himself, so that they could both keep an eye on the man. John knew that it made sense for Dorian to stand closer to the suspect, but he didn’t want the guy anywhere near his partner if he could help it. 

“Would you like a drink?” Dorian asked with a smile, making sure to talk loud enough so that their target heard him. “You look a bit exhausted.”

“Yeah, well, not all of us have android stamina, babe. Humans have to take a break sometimes.”

That seemed to catch the guy’s attention. John noticed him frowning as he glanced at them, then down at their intertwined fingers. Good. Now they just had to keep the suspect’s attention so that no one else got hurt.

“Of course,” Dorian said, touching John’s cheek gently with his fingers. Damn it, Dorian’s hands really were soft. Did all androids have hands that soft? “Thank you for coming here with me tonight.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” John returned the smile and licked his lips briefly, finding it very difficult to look away from Dorian’s face. “Like it’s a hardship to spend time with you, huh?”

Just when John thought he and Dorian would have to step up their game, the suspect stood up. He clearly was about to leave, but then, even though he had plenty of space, he decided to walk right next Dorian. It couldn’t be an accident. 

“Sorry, man,” their target murmured quickly, and when Dorian was about to answer, the pupil of his right eye turned red briefly, then started blinking. Dorian was looking straight at him, but there was something wrong. It was as if he didn’t see John at all. 

“Dorian!” John grabbed his partner by the shoulders, looking him in the eyes. 

“J-J-John… I-I-I… d-d-do n-not-…”

“Lance, Bradley, get him! Blond hair, brown jacket, he’s moving towards the exit! He did something to Dorian!”

With the corner of his eye he saw the guy running, but soon Lance and Bradley were there, pushing people away to get to him, and that was all he needed to know. He turned his attention back to Dorian, whose eyes were still flashing, and John had no idea what to do. 

“T… thi… i-i-isssss…”

“Hey, hey, you’re going to be fine, you hear me?” John put one hand on Dorian’s cheek, the other one still squeezing his partner’s shoulder. If he tried to calm down himself or Dorian, it didn’t matter, he just knew he had to do _something._ “Everything’s gonna be okay, just relax. We’ll take you to Rudy right away.”

“J… Jo… John…”

When Dorian collapsed into him arms, John held him until the backup arrived, and he didn’t leave his partner’s side until he was taken to Rudy’s lab .

***

The perpetrator, Samuel Reed, admitted to everything quicker than everyone expected. All it took to get his confession was leaving him in the interrogation room with Detective Richard Paul for an hour.

As it turned out, two months earlier Reed’s girlfriend had left him for an android she had worked with, and because of that the man wanted to take revenge on all the other androids who were in romantic relationship with humans. Since Reed was an engineer he knew the most effective, most efficient way to inject an android with a virus while staying mostly undetected. If a woman who had noticed Reed talking to her android partner before her disappearance hadn’t contacted them, he most likely would have kept searching for next victims. Fortunately, it would not come to that, because the man would spend a lot of time in jail.

John had promised Captain Maldonado to deal with all his reports concerning the Reed case as soon as Dorian was cleared for duty. Detectives Lance and Bradley had agreed to cover for him until then, which he was grateful for.

According to Rudy they were lucky Dorian had been brought to him quickly, otherwise the virus he was injected with would have at best compromised his memory bank and most likely completely immobilized him. At worst, Rudy said he preferred not to think about it, so John decided to leave it alone. The virus Reed created made androids more compliant, so he could talk them into going with him easily, and that was why it was so difficult to find any evidence of kidnapping. However, Reed must have had no idea how his virus would work on a DRN model. When Dorian had not reacted like the other androids did, Reed freaked out, which helped the police force to catch him.

John was happy that in the end they caught the guy before he could do any more damage, but only when he saw Dorian waking up and looking straight at him he could finally feel himself calm down.

***

“John, your heart rate is still elevated and you have been fidgeting ever since we left Rudy’s lab,” Dorian said later that day, after John took them both to his apartment. “Is it about the case?”

John just took a sip of his beer. 

They were sitting on a couch, watching some awful action movie John had let Dorian pick, and that was what John wanted to focus on. He really, really hoped they wouldn’t have to talk about anything that had happened in the last few days, but of course, that would have been far too easy. Dorian managed to keep himself from mentioning anything longer than John expected anyway.

Of course John could blame his behavior on still being worried about his work partner, it wasn’t like it wasn’t true, but did he want to? Should he tell Dorian that he apparently developed feelings for him? Feelings other than just friendship? Would Dorian even want to know that?

“I’m fine.”

“I can tell you are not,” Dorian answered right away, and John could feel his partner watching him closely. “Maybe if we talked about this…”

John put the half-empty bottle on a coffee table and leaned back against the couch with a sigh. Running his hand down his face, he tried to collect his thought. Damn it all.

“It’s been a hell of a day, okay? I just want to relax, watch this stupid movie in peace, and not think about what that guy did to all these androids.” He almost said _“to you”_ , but he managed to stop himself. “It’s nothing a beer or two and some sleep won’t fix, don’t worry.”

With the corner of his eye John saw Dorian nod and turn his attention back to the screen, so he picked up his beer and took a swing. Just when John leaned back to make himself comfortable again, he felt Dorian’s hand on his, gentle fingers caressing his skin slowly, cautiously, as if waiting for John’s reaction. When after a while John didn’t move his hand back, waiting to see what his partner would do, Dorian tangled their fingers together, just like he had done back in the club.

“I care about you, too, John,” he said quietly, his eyes never leaving the screen. “We can talk about it when you feel more comfortable.”

And that was it. Dorian didn’t say anything else. He went back to watching the movie, never letting go of John’s hand.

John just squeezed Dorian’s hand back and finally let himself relax. Now that he was sure Dorian was aware of whatever was between them, he felt relief wash over him. They would have to talk and figure a lot of stuff out, but they weren’t in a hurry. For now sitting together on the couch and just enjoying each other’s company was enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Round 25 of [Smallfandomfest](http://smallfandomfest.livejournal.com/) for the prompt: Almost Human (tv), John Kennex/Dorian - _"the obligatory undercover 'fake boyfriends' trope."_
> 
> My first fic for this fandom. I hope you'll like it. Enjoy.


End file.
